Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark
by Freyja SilverWillow
Summary: PRLS Joel was angry. And there was pastrami. Or maybe spores. Anyway, there was a perfectly good excuse for Carter and Dana to be hiding in the closet. Even before they made up their own.


Ah, closets. That's where the magic happens. Randomly spawned Carter/Dana fluff from watching Lightspeed. Takes place... sometime. Use your imagination. Don't take this fic too seriously. It's completely frivolous. Of Love and Bunnies compliant, if you can believe it.

See, this is the kind of thing I think about while making sandwiches for the unwashed masses at work.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or settings. The title is the name of a real band.

----

Dana couldn't really remember how they had gotten there. She was only dimly aware of Carter mentioning how he hadn't seen Joel that angry ever and it was probably a good thing they managed to escape and how he hoped the others had gotten away, too. Or he could have been talking about pastrami in the galley. She really wasn't paying attention.

At some point she was wondering just when they got broom closets at Aquabase, but that was a ridiculous thought, especially since someone had to keep the place clean, and the scientists certainly never pushed a mop around, and she knew for a fact there was a cleaning staff hired...

It was funny how one's surroundings could change a person's perception. Here she was, hiding in a broom closet, with Carter of all people, hiding from Joel for some oddball reason, and somehow that necessitated Carter holding her protectively.

Not that she minded. Carter had really nice arms. It was probably why she hugged him more than she reasonably should. Granted, she was far more affectionate than most people, regardless, but Carter usually reflexively hugged whoever hugged him back.

The surrounding darkness of the small closet only seemed to intensify certain things. Dana couldn't quite figure out why she had only given Carter passing glances- especially given what she was experiencing right then. Standing there in the dark, him holding her in his arms, apparently listening for Joel or lunchmeat, it was very easy to discover just how well defined the rest of him was. It was very... nice.

Carter tensed and made a small choking sound. "Dana? What are you doing?"

Dana froze, suddenly realizing what she _was_ doing. She was feeling him up- oh god, had she completely lost it? In so short a time, no less? Come to think of it, she had no idea just how long her hands had been wandering, anyway. She pushed herself away and wondered if she could stop herself from stroking his chest. Turned out she had a battle ahead of her. "Oh my god! I'm sorry! I just sort of spaced out!"

Shifting, Carter let her slide back. "Yeah," he replied, his tone oddly strained, "well, it is dark in here."

"We..." Dana had to focus to keep her fingers absolutely still. Strangely enough, Carter seemed to be holding very still as well. "We _could_ turn on the light..."

"Could," he remarked, his voice oddly high pitched this time, "but the... spores might not have settled yet- we should wait until it's all clear."

"Spores?"

"Yes."

Because that made so much sense. About as much sense as pastrami. Why was Carter so still? It was like standing next to a big, warm boulder. Why did he want to stay where they were when it was clearly ridiculous- two adults stuffed in a broom closet, of all things. And had that gasp been a bad sign in the first place? It didn't connect. Then, something dawned on Dana. Spores weren't attracted to _light_. Any nitwit would know that. And how would Carter holding her protectively keep her from being harmed by _spores_, anyway?

Grinning, mostly to herself because of the dark, Dana spoke. "You know, we did run in here pretty fast. You may have injured yourself."

"What?"

"You should let me check for bruising and contusions. Just to be on the safe side. I'm sure I heard you crash into something when you pulled me in here."

"..._You_ pulled _me_ in here. Didn't you?"

"I don't really remember."

"I don't remember either," Carter admitted, somewhat haltingly. He cleared his throat. "Come to think of it, my arm does hurt."

"You arm?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Bicep or forearm?"

Carter paused long enough to make Dana fairly certain he was making it up as he went along. "Bicep," he answered finally.

Thank god. "Take off your shirt," she commanded in a clipped, professional tone that nearly disintegrated when he went even more still than before. It was almost like he ceased to exist for a second.

"My shirt."

"Yes. I can hardly check for bruising if you have it on. It's practical medicine," Dana informed him, nearly snorting at the words "practical medicine."

"...Well, if the doctor insists," Carter replied. It took a bit of maneuvering, but Carter managed to pull his shirt off in the dark with minimal casualties.

"Not a doctor yet, but I am trying."

"Training is important."

"Very important." Dana reached up and found his chest again, and gently slid her fingers over his right arm.

"Anything to be of help," Carter informed her. He paused. "...You're not going to accidentally almost kill me, are you?"

Dana searched for a good response. _"Literally or figuratively?" "Only if you want me to?"_ No. Play dumb. "Why would I do that?" she asked, prodding around the muscles on his bicep. His scent was more pronounced now, without the barrier of cloth. She found herself appreciating the fact that he didn't wear Old Spice- that stuff had a tendency to reek in her opinion. And was that... _vanilla_? Dana couldn't be sure- it could be her perfume. Was it just her or was it getting warmer in the closet? Could be- it was a very small area. Idly she wondered how far she could take this. The idea that she could get Carter to stand on his head for medical reasons appealed to her sense of humor.

Carter shifted under her questing hands. "I haven't had the best experience helping out with the... you know... experimental stuff."

Dana's hands stiffened. "...Experimental... stuff?"

"You know... when the scientists try to test things on me?"

"Oh!" Oh. _That's_ what he meant. Right. "Don't be silly. This is me. You trust _me_, don't you?"

"Of course."

Sliding her hands back over his bicep, after another minute Dana asked, "Feeling any pain?

"Huh?" Carter sounded a bit distant. "Oh- no. It's the other arm, actually."

"The other arm?" Dana had to choke down a laugh that had bubbled up. "Okay."

As Dana checked Carter's left bicep for injuries, imagined or otherwise, but mostly imaginary, Carter suddenly ran his hand into Dana's hair, caressing the strands and sliding his palm against her cheek.

"Carter, this undermines my attempt at being professional," Dana quipped. She betrayed her conviction by leaning into his hand.

"It's professional. Completely. We're both professionals, so why isn't this professional?"

Dana had to admit it had an appealing sort of logic. "How can I argue with that?"

There was no telling how far it may have gone, had it not been for the alarms blaring to life around the Aquabase, scaring Carter and Dana half to death. The two collided painfully in their haste to get to the door, open it and bolt out, knocking over brooms and mops and startling a new and wayward intern as they tore out of the closet, Carter still shirtless.

As they vaulted off through the Base and vanished, a scientist came up beside the intern. The younger man looked at the scientist pleadingly. "Does that happen often?"

The scientist, not having seen Dana and Carter in his shirtless state bursting from the closet, figured he was talking about the alarms and chuckled at the intern. "Don't worry; you get use to it."

As the scientist walked on, the intern stared at the closet, the door of which had only partially closed due to fallen brooms and mops. A bucket rocked to a halt forlornly about two feet away from the closet. "Right," he muttered.

----

Days later, Carter found himself down the same hallway again. He had gone back there every day since the "spore" incident, searching the closet high and low for the shirt he had accidentally left behind. But no matter how hard he searched, or how frequently, he never could find it.

While Carter had enjoyed what had happened, something about it had left him unsettled and unsatisfied. For the last few days, he had wanted nothing more than to do something about it. They had a little trouble acting naturally around their friends afterwards, Carter had no idea how difficult it was for her. All he could seem to think about was having a repeat of last time, maybe where there was light so he could see her clearly, how she reacted when he touched her, if he kissed her and-

Coming within sight of the door to the closet, Carter's pace slowed. The door was sitting ajar and light poured through into the hall. Reaching the door, he peered inside suspiciously, only to find Dana looking back at him. She pushed the door open further, grabbed Carter by the shirt and hauled him inside. Once she had him in, she pulled the door shut and hit the lights, plunging them into utter darkness.

"Dana, what-"

"Spores," she explained plaintively.

Carter blinked and caught on. "Spores. Right." How could he have forgotten about the spores?

The air became tense around them, both seeming to contemplate their next move. Dana could be heard shifting, and suddenly she exhaled loudly. "Oh, the hell with it!"

He felt more than saw Dana stretching up on her tiptoes, and the dim light made it appear that she was tilting her face up towards him. He couldn't think why at first, but then he realized she probably wanted to whisper something to him. After all, spores and fake injuries couldn't be her _real_ reason for getting him alone like this. She had probably just wanted some form of privacy. So he leaned down towards her, the better to hear, and he felt something press against his lips. Her lips. She twined her arms around his neck and he wound his arms around her on reflex, still trying to comprehend what exactly was happening.

This was not how he was expecting his first kiss to go. It was too sudden. It was too... passionate. And it was in a broom closet and it was dark and there were imaginary spores involved. Still, Carter's expectations were more than happy to be shattered.

Suddenly the door was flung open, startling Carter and Dana apart. Ryan stared at them in shock from the hall. Carter and Dana stared back.

An odd look crossed Ryan's face, and he mumbled a pathetic "sorry" before shutting the door again.

"Uh," Carter began after a moment of still shocked silence. "Maybe we should talk to him?"

Dana made a noise in her throat. "He's not going far."

"Probably not," Carter agreed. "Besides, there are spores out there."

"Right, yes, of course," Dana agreed back and started leaning back up.

"Wait." Dana stopped in confusion as Carter moved away and flipped on the light. Strange yellow light flooded the room to a point, making them painfully aware of the fact that yes, there were brooms and mops and buckets and other cleaning supplies surrounding them. It felt awkward.

"I think it was better in the dark," Dana said, edging away from a broom inches from her side.

"Yes," Carter replied, "but then I can't see you."

"Ah." Dana smiled, then her expression changed and she started coming off as shy. "Speaking of..." Her gaze dropped to his chest and it took Carter a few moments to catch on.

When he did, he couldn't help but laugh. Backing up, he shucked his shirt but this time he tied it firmly around his waist.

"You have very nice arms," Dana commented he gathered her back up. She took her sweet time in replacing her arms around his neck, hands taking a more scenic route.

"Thank you." Carter wondered if he should return with a compliment, or see if- no. He simply kissed her again.

No sense in pressing his good luck.


End file.
